Beer: €1 for a local Julbrew.Bed: €15 – 20 for a private room. (Leybato)Bud: €2 buys you enough for a week!Board: €5 for a meal in tourist areas.Budget other: You will need taxis to get around. Add €5 a day to your budget.

Overview

The Gambian coast is cheap, fun and relaxed. Did you know it’s also one of the biggest desinations in the world for female sex tourism? 50 year old fat German, Dutch and British chicks with attractive, 6-pack 20 year old Gambians are a common site. My problem with the Gambia – tourists get hassled more here than anywhere else on the West African Coast. “Bumsters” as they’re known, will approach you constantly. Some of them are alright, but some are just plain annoying. “One Love”, “You are my Brother” and “It’s nice to be nice” will be ringing in your ear every twenty minutes. While Gambians are decent enough and honest, many will try and leech off you. Be polite but assertive in your interactions. That said, Gambians are very relaxed and love to party.

The Girls

English is spoken by almost everyone. The majority of local girls are from the Mandinka tribe(42%), followed by the Fulani (18%) then Wolof (mostly in Banjul) and others. The Mandinka look is quite diverse but in Gambia they are typically quite dark. The Fulani are the lightest tribe, are slighter and have smaller facial features. In general, Gambians aren’t the most beautiful in the region, but plenty have slim and sexy bodies. 90% of the population are Muslim; as a result, most do not drink alcohol. That said, Gambian girls like to let their hair down (but can be hard to find sometimes!). At night, many of the girls come from other West African countries. They come to earn money as hookers. Most are from Guinea, Mali and Senegal, with some from Liberia and Sierra Leone. These girls tend to be hardcore and are more likely to give you trouble. If you’re looking for a good time, I’d suggest actively hunting down a local Gambian girl. Forget day game and pipelining. If you don’t want to shore, I’d suggest going for bar girls or waitresses (but you probably will be shoring anyway!). If you want to check out more Gambian girls check out this poorly made music video.

Nightlife Recommendations

At night, Senegambia is the place to be. Decline any invitations to reggae parties, they usually all men.

Jokor nighclub

Located in Senegambia, this big open-air club is a little unpredictable. It’s more of a giant function hall so it’s depends on what night you go. It’s very much a local scene. Ask around. Outside of the weekends it can be dead.

Inside Wow

Wow Nightclub

This is the place to be. It’s a little pokey and overpriced, but every night it’s packed full of sexy chicks from all over West Africa. The Balcony outside is a good place to chat up girls. If you’re a white guy you should have no problem picking up here. Just watch your ass! And try and avoid foreigners.

Getting High

Where to buy marijuana: EVERYWHERE! You will be offered it constantly. But ask the staff in your hotel, they will get you a good deal.

Prague Marijuana Prices: It’s practically free, but average quality. Our first night we paid 30 cent for a few grams. 100 Gambian worth (around €2.50) will get you stoned for a whole week!

My Gambian Experience

This was our first stop on the Siege of West Africa. I was on the coast for 3 nights. I stayed on the beach at Leybato motel and spent my time getting stoned on a hammocks and partying at night. My second night there I met a sexy Gambian Mandinka girl in Wow who invited my back to her place. She was very sweet. In my experience, I found Guinea girls slightly problematic. They’re hardcore, be careful. Also, be wary of bumsters. They became so annoying we just started to pretend we were both from Azerbaijan and spoke no English.

13 Responses to Gambian Coast Guide

Africa is packed with hot girls. I live in Congo and score hot girls weekly. Ethiopia has been heaven. I have seen more hot girls than I’ve seen in Latin-America, even in poor villages on the country side. African girls are also amazing in bed, I’ve had Nigerian, Ghanese, Erithrean, Morcoccon, Gabonese, Congolese (RDC), Congolese (RC), Ethiopian and Angolese.

I live in congo too, in southern katanga, kolwezi. I still dont know how to hook up here without getting in to trouble. The girls want to get married, so its hard to get no strings fun. Got any advice? I havent resorted to hiring hookers yet, that would be tough from the company house!

Im considering heading out to a village to offer a chief 100 bucks to fuck a girl out there.. but i need to find out if thats safe before i do it.

@Thomas: You caught me. I’m secretly getting paid by the Africa Union to produce propaganda in order to drive hordes of horny westerners to the continent, in order to send tourist dollars in the government coffers. Shit, was I that obvious?

Your description of Gambia as an oddd mix of bumsters’ hassles on the beach and relaxed people otherwise exactly meets the impressions i had. Unfortunately the bumsters on the beach outweigh the impression created by some lovely upcountry people. Even though Senegalese bumsters (in downtown Dakar and Saly) are definitely worse (but better dressed).

Jokor can’t be on the Senegambia strip, as you claim. There were two Jokor live music clubs in early 2011 – Jokor Westfield on the Westfield junction, 20 minutes from the tourist coast, and Jokor Brikama in Brikama, about 35 taxi minutes from the tourist coast. Jokor Westfield is a lovely place – if you like quality open-air live music – but seemed on the brink of closure because of losing busing to the new Duplex Night Club right on the tourist coast, but that one is not at all open air and thus terribly noisy.

ye, think henrik’s right and jokor at westfield was out of action in spring 2011; shame, cos was a great place to see quality bands and meet local women.

coastal hassle with bumsters and bribe hungry police is wrecking what was an easy going gambia tourist vibe. the crack dens are shut down and the fishing is drying up. what was hedonistic and friendly touristing is getting way more cynical now.

still though the Gambians outside the tourist industry can be exceptionally welcoming and helpful and it’s a cheap arrival point for heading on south or east. Casamance is cool …

The two best places for tourists in Africa, south of the Sahara, are The Gambia and Ghana. They are both safe, organized, VERY tourist friendly, and have lots of resorts.

If U want to go on Safari, the best place is Tanzania.

After The Gambia and Ghana (both in West Africa), the next best tourist area is the East African Coast: Tanzanian Coast, Zanzibar, and the Kenyan Coast. LOTS of tourists from Europe, especially Italy, frequent the East African Coast.

I am sure the “hardcore” is as in doing whatever it takes to get the most money possible out of their client.

Throughout Africa, there are LOTS of hardcore pesterers: “Rafiki (my friend), buy this, go on this tour, come to my friend’s shop”. They are VERY persistent, and can bother you if you let them. You need to walk on by and ignore them, or they will be on you like flies on honey!

I don’t here much about the Gambia. It is good to know that women are part of the sex tourism too. Women needs that hot, passionate sex too! But this Black American dude is going for the Mandinka Gambian Women! I love dark skinned women! If I go to the African Sex Tour. Passports, Vista, money. Right now I can’t even pay off my student loans. It suck being broke and unemployed.